Intel Reveals New ‘Evo’ Badge for Premium Ultraportable Laptops, New Logo

Intel SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Karen Walker, unveils the Intel Evo badge

With its 11e Gen Core processor family based on the Tiger Lake architecture, Intel has launched the Intel Evo platform, a new name and brand opportunity for its Project Athena initiative that aims to refine the performance and experience offered by computers high-end ultraportable laptops. The new badge replaces the old goofy “Engineered for Mobile Performance” sticker and echoes the once popular Intel Centrino brand initiative. Intel will cooperate with laptop OEMs and the entire manufacturing ecosystem to deliver laptops with the Intel Evo badge, which will then be promoted under this label.

Project Athena, now in its second generation, is a set of guidelines and specifications that define the user experience parameters of a laptop, which define what components and design elements are used. According to Intel, this initiative improves all of the technologies built into the laptop, which translates into miniaturization, better performance and longer battery life. Examples of features that can be expected from laptops bearing the Evo badge are edge-to-edge displays, compact antennas, faster Wi-Fi, and lighter cases.

Intel says it works with more than 150 partners, including laptop manufacturers, component suppliers, OEMs and ODMs, and software partners. There have already been over 50 verified designs for the first generation, on Windows and Chrome OS, in the consumer and commercial markets.

To meet the requirements of the Intel Evo platform, laptops will need to meet specific goals based on common workloads running under real conditions. Intel claims to use several performance and responsiveness tests designed around real-world use cases involving authoring, collaborating, browsing, and streaming. Performance should be consistent, whether on battery or AC power, multitasking should be smooth, and responsiveness should be consistent.

Intel Evo laptops should wake up in less than a second, provide at least 9 hours of battery life, even with a large and bright display, and provide at least 4 hours of battery life on a 30-minute charge. They will also include Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, precision touchpads, stylus and voice capabilities, high-quality webcams, and premium audio and video.

Along with this new platform, Intel unveiled a new brand identity and company logo, which will be deployed across its products and communications. The new look features square patterns and bold colors, and ditch the elliptical swoosh around the Intel wordmark. This is just the third major change to Intel’s corporate identity in its history, as Karen Walker, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, explained at the launch event in direct from Tiger Lake.

September 02, 2020